Monday, May 13, 2013

Cover Designers -- their importance, cost and where to find them!

In today’s world, books are definitely judged by their covers.
Your cover is the first thing people see about your book. Frequently, it will
influence whether the person goes on to read the book summary, or even click on
the sample pages.

From that point, your writing – both on the summary and the
sample pages – will hopefully sell your book. But without a good cover, they
may never get to that point.

And if you’re doing a free promotion, your cover could mean the
difference between people freeloading and actually reading your book, or
freeloading and archiving it instead.

So, your cover needs to convey the tone of your book and be
appropriate for the genre you’re writing in. It has to be eye-catching and it
has to look professional. But it doesn’t have to be expensive.

A lot of aspiring indies are scared off by the assumed expense
of covers, and think they can’t afford one. But you can get a professional
looking cover for anywhere from $5 to $500 and up. Seriously. You can find
covers for all budget constraints. Decide what you can afford to spend and go
shopping.

Yes, there are cover designers who charge a lot of money, who
will provide you with both e-book and paperback covers. But there are also
designers who work with e-book covers only, at a much reduced rate. And there’s
a world of pre-made covers, available at an even lower rate, that you can have
the designer modify for a small fee.

And if you pick up an e-book cover, you can modify it into a
print cover on your own, via Createspace’s cover wizard. It’s a fairly simple
process, although you won’t get that cool graphic wraparound look, unless you
have some mad design skills of your own. Just make sure the designer gives you
a high-resolution image, (minimum resolution for print is 300 dpi).

Often, as indies, we don’t know how well a book will sell, so
it’s tough to commit hundreds or thousands of dollars to the pre-production
phase. But I hope this blog post shows you that you don’t have to. You can
absolutely get professional covers at very affordable prices.

The covers I’ve had done for my serialized novel, The Gospel of
Ruth, have cost between $5 and $50. I wish I could insert pictures into this
blog, but I can’t, so you’ll have to check them out yourself on Amazon. Here’s
the story of each cover:

Episode One: Cerridwen’s Cauldron cost $5 on Fiverr.com. It was
designed by someone who was testing the waters of the cover design industry.
Talk about a bargain. It’s a beautiful cover worth much more than $5, and I was
thrilled with it.

Episode Two: Twice-Born was a pre-made. I asked the designer to
add in the car (and possibly the hand -- I can’t remember if it was already
there or not). With the modifications, the cover cost me $50. $30 for the
pre-made, $20 for the additional artwork.

Episode Three: Demon Child was another pre-made cover. I found
the image of the skull and I sent it to the designer. She added it in to her
pre-made for me. This cover cost $40. $30 for the cover and $10 to add the
additional design element. (Episode Three is not published yet, but you can see
it on my FB page: www.facebook.com/christianamiller.author)

So, you see, you can totally customize pre-made covers or even
get a custom cover, for a price that won’t break your budget.

Here is a list of cover designers
who’ve done excellent work, many of whom offer fabulous pre-made covers. When
you’re in the market for a cover, please check them out: